GREK: Greek

This course introduces the elements of classical Greek, the language of Homer, Greek tragedy and philosophy, as well as of the Christian New Testament. By the end of the term you will know the ancient Greek alphabet and be able to read in the present tense, using vocabulary commonly found in ancient Greek texts. You will read adapted Greek but also some unadapted excerpts from classical authors, such as Archilochus and Anacreon, as well as passages from the New Testament. Prerequisites: None.
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Greek 102 continues introducing the grammar of classical Greek, extending in particular the verb system, as well widening the range of vocabulary. By the end of the term you will understand several additional tenses and be able to use these in reading both adapted and unadapted classical Greek and New Testament: we’ll read passages from authors as varied as Sappho, Theognis, and Luke. There may even be occasion to learn an ancient Greek scolion (a drinking song).
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Greek 201 completes most of the grammar and syntax of classical Greek needed for reading the ancient texts. At the same time, students continue to read both adapted and unadapted texts from a variety of authors, including Heraclitus, Thucydides, and Plato, as well as extended passages from the Gospel of John from the New Testament.
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The term begins with a final wrap-up of grammar and syntax, along with an introduction into the Ionic dialect through adapted readings from Herodotus. Students then proceed to the reading of an unadapted Greek text, either in full or from a substantial part of a larger text. Texts vary from year to year, but in recent terms the texts have been chosen from Xenophon, Plato, Lysias, and Lucian.
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This course is designed to introduce intermediate students to ancient Greek prose literature; the selection of authors to be read varies each year, but can draw from genres as diverse as history, philosophy, biography, satire, religious texts, or even romance or early science fiction. The works to be read will be entirely unadapted but students will have the assistance of a commentary and lexicon, as well as the support of the instructor, to assist them in making the transition to reading ancient Greek texts.
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This course is designed to equip students with the necessary tools for independent reading of unadapted Greek texts.
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Herodotus and Thucydides: The Origins of Greek Historiography. This course will focus on translating selections from the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, who, as Leslie Kurke has put it (in O. Taplin [ed.], Literature in the Greek World [Oxford 2000], p. 115), were responsible for “charting the poles of history” for ancient, and by extension modern, historiography. The course will be evenly divided between these two historians, with the first six and one-half weeks devoted to Herodotus and the second six and one-half weeks devoted to Thucydides. Students will also be introduced to recent trends in modern scholarship on Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as to interpreting these historians, particularly through understanding the cultural backdrop against which they were writing and the possibilities and limitations of using them in modern historical reconstructions. Instead of just seeing differences between the approaches of Herodotus and Thucydides, we will also investigate whether any similarities...
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